Fourteen by C.M. Smith (short story to read .txt) 📕

still. A part from a few additions—a snack machine in the corner and a display case at end of the room—everything was the same. It even smelled the same.

“Relax, babycakes.”

I grunted and he laughed, leading me up to the table near the gym doors. I sighed as I spotted my nametag, Weller typed in bold letters after Arianna. I tilted my head, vaguely aware of Evan grabbing his own nametag and saying something to me.

That wasn’t right. I wasn’t a Weller anymore, and I definitely wasn’t Arianna.

“Give me your pen,” I said, holding out one hand as I grabbed the nametag with the other.

“Why?”

“Please?”

He grabbed a pen from his jacket pocket. Ever since he’d gotten his own column a few years ago, he’d taken to carrying one around with him almost religiously. When I suggested buying some kind of electronic device that would make things a little easier for him, he’d immediately shot my idea down by saying that he didn’t trust his brilliant ideas to technology.

I rested my nametag on my stomach—one of the advantages of being seven months pregnant—and scribbled out Arianna Weller, writing Anna Drake underneath it. I smiled down at it before handing Evan his pen back and pinning the tag to my shirt. I looked at him and grinned.

“Want to explain that?” he asked, sticking the pen back in his pocket.

“I’m not that girl anymore.”

“You’re still you, Anna.”

“I’m your wife; I’ve been that way for six years, and I’m going to be that way for the rest of our lives.” I linked my fingers with his again. “I’m someone different and better thanks to you.”

He stared at me before leaning down and kissing me forcefully. He cupped the back of my head until I stepped into him and placed our hands on my stomach.

“Fuck, I love you,” he said as he pulled away from me.

I smiled, keeping my eyes closed as he rested his forehead against mine.

“I love you too.” I squared my shoulders as I opened my eyes. I looked over at the gym doors and squeezed his hand. “Let’s go in there.”

“There she is,” he whispered into my ear, placing a quick kiss on my cheek before he stepped ahead of me and opened the door.

I took a deep breath and followed him inside, finding that the gym was only half-full of classmates I barely recognized who stood around, talking and comparing life stories with drinks in their hands and dressed to the nines.

I know for a fact that the majority of them still lived in the same town, so the odds that most of the people here didn’t still know each other’s business was very slim. If they wanted to pretend that they hadn’t seen each other in the past twenty-four hours, hey, who was I to call them out on it?

“Oh Jesus Christ, it’s about time.” Ashley popped up at my side and placed her hand on my shoulder. “Kyle was about to go and find you.”

“Told you,” Evan whispered into my ear.

“Shut up.”

“Come on!” she exclaimed, grabbing my arm and leading us to their table.

“Anna!” Christina squealed, jumping up and wrapping her arms around my neck.

I laughed and hugged her back as much as possible. We hadn’t been able to see everyone when we got in yesterday afternoon, having been whisked away by Evan’s parents for some family bonding and sleep to recover from the three-hour drive with a four-year old. Ashley and Kyle had shown up sometime around eight and demanded that we go out to a late dinner with them, declaring that they had first dibs with us for some unknown reason.

Ashley and Kyle had stayed close to home, relocating to Schenectady and starting a joint remodeling business that had taken off very well. Vince and Christina had moved out to California, where Vince was a successful agent and Christina was a publicist for a few relatively unknown celebrities. Our friends had flourished, and I’d missed them horribly.

“Hi!” I squealed back, squeezing her tightly.

“How’s the little peanut?” she immediately asked, bending down to rest her hands on my stomach and place her ear over my bellybutton. “Everything all right in there?”

Evan laughed and kissed my cheek before going over to slap Vince on the shoulder and Kyle on the back of the head.

“Everything is fine in there,” I assured her, plopping down into one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs as she stood.

“How’s the little princess?” Ashley asked, already sitting down and leaning her elbow on the table next to me.

We’d split up the Godparent thing between our friends—Vince and Christina were Macie’s godparents, and Ashley and Kyle were our as-yet-unnamed baby boy’s. All of them spoiled the hell out of Macie as it was, and I was sure nothing would change when our little boy showed up in two months.

“She’s good. Visiting with my dad tonight.”

The relationship between my father and I had improved over the years. I found that we really could get along, and had actually found myself missing his company while I was in college. Evan, Macie, and I talked to him on the phone every Friday night at seven—Thursday nights were Hell’s Hospital nights and as much as Evan complained about it, he still sat and watched it with me—and my father and I had gotten along better than we ever had.

Apparently, distance had been the thing we’d needed the most.

“I’d better see that beautiful girl before you guys leave,” Christina said, pointing at me.

“Promise. How’s Calvin?”

“Growing up so fast.” She grinned, her eyes sparking at the mention of her and Vince’s only son.

He was six and an absolute gentleman. Between Christina and her manners, and Vince and his need to teach his son everything there was to know about sports, he was well versed in all things that mattered. Then, of course, there were the superheroes, comic books, and Disney-Pixar movies that every kid loved. When we visited, Macie and he had spent at least half of that time watching movies and then